On abortion, both Biden and the pro-life movement lack moral consistency

On abortion, both Biden and the pro-life movement lack moral consistency

The bishops are not as concerned about moral consistency on life teaching as they are in moral consistency about sexual ethics. Likewise, pro-life Republicans are more concerned with fighting socialism than they are about the unborn. Their other goal is to take control of all social policy from the federal courts, especially regarding race and immigration, than they are about the unborn. Details below the fold.

There is absolutely no way to give legal protection to the unborn in the first trimester. Roe cannot be overturned in such a way to give the decision back to the states, both from the point of view of the rights of women (which states are lousy at protecting) and because doing so would take us back to the days of Plessy, where states had primacy for all equal protection and due process issues - essentially that states are the proper place for interpreting 14th Amendment law. The pro-life movement is simply state power dressed up as concern for the unborn. The real goals of such power are to control gays and immigrants.

While the Congress could, theoretically, recognize first trimester embryos and fetuses as legal persons, doing so would open up women to punishment for killing a legal person, require the registration of pregnancy and investigation, or at least case review of any lost pregnancy. This cannot happen either. There are too many due process problems for Congress to do anything that the Supreme Court would allow.

The desire to protect the unborn is emotionalism, which is not a good way to make public policy. Not now, not ever. It is the same kind of weak tea as "witnessing to life." 

The only thing that can be done for the unborn is what the Biden-Harris Administration is actually proposing, refundable child tax credits (although only for a year as part of COVID recovery) and increasing the amount to $3000 (or $250 a month per child). Families with three children or more can claim a refundable credit, but these amounts are still paltry.

The President needs to patiently teach the bishops and voters that there is no criminal option in fighting abortion. Until he does that, the pro-life movement will find another useful idiot to take the place of Trump as a pro-life president. A Catholic Republican would have a better chance of making the bishops listen, but that does not rescue us from the heart of Trumpism.

There are those in pro-life movement who regard any child credit as paying people to have children, or subsidizing sexuality. They seem unaware that support for families is bipartisan. The only question is whether the funding is adequate. It still is not under the Biden proposals, but at least it is an improvement. 

If the bishops stand behind the Biden-Harris tax provisions and force the National Right Committee to rank them as a must support measure, Catholic Republicans may support it too. I doubt this will happen, because they would rather force abstinence as part of a consistent sexual ethic. Combined with those who believe that economic support for families is socialism, it is no wonder that feminists conclude that the pro-life movement is more about controlling women's bodies than reducing abortion.

Links: Latin love, a more just economy and Trump lapdogs

Links: Latin love, a more just economy and Trump lapdogs 

A good Latinist must be a master of poetry without making the poetry saccharin. May Mr. Foster's memory be a blessing to the Church.

One thing missing in food pantries is getting food to people with no transportation resources. Hopefully, the latest decline in illness will lead to enough normality that we can handle the hard cases, while others can return to normal life.

The problem with Trumpism is that poor White people do not want to admit they are poor, sometimes the poorest of the poor. The pandemic may be the turning point in seeing that we are all together. The problem with lingering Trumpism can be found on the NCR website when, for them, being Democrat means being a baby killer. That sentiment won't go away with Trump, no matter how much we fix the economics.

When Trump is outed as a con artist, the GOP faithful will leave him high and dry, as major donors have. Politicians follow the money. Unless Roe becomes as much about defending the Constitution as feminism, there will always be a radicalized moral class.

In DC, local Advisor Neighborhood Commissions are key to resisting development and gentrification, provided the community cares to be active. An active neighborhood is both safe and safe from developers. 

Gaga was wonderful, but I miss the usual cadences in the anthem. 

Biden, Communion and the functional schism in the US church

Biden, Communion and the functional schism in the US church  

Gomez embarrassed himself on Proposition 8. The argument on complementarity was unconvincing in Court (it does not go so well among the faithful either). His sour grapes make bad wine. He and Weigel are irrelevant, as are the bishops who voted for him as USCCB President.

Biden is right about the constitutional aspects of abortion. I will save my usual comments on the essential constituionality of abortion rights. It is Biden's obligation to his fellow liberal Catholics to explain this privately to the bishops and publicly to the voters. 

The answer to legal abortion are the Biden-Harris proposals to increase the child tax credit and make it refundable. No one who opposes these can maintain a perfect pro-life voting record. It is up to the USCCB and Catholic Charities USA to insist upon this. There is simply no other way to eliminate the demand for abortion (which would close more clinics than any law). If these methods are socialist than Comrades Freidman, Ford and Trump must be included in the Congressional Soviet.

The bishops who wish to ban Biden (and people like me) from Communion do so because they seek a consistent message in the Church, that all public Catholics must toe the party line. They do not understand the import of Dignitatis Humanae. It is not only freedom of religion that is protected. If Catholic politicians must toe the Church line on moral issues, then Dignitatis is dead letter. That cannot be. Gomez seeks loyalty, not purity. He follows Pius IX, not Jansen.

Links: Canceling untruths; censures show which way the wind blows

Links: Canceling untruths; censures show which way the wind blows 

The irony is that authoritative teaching is relativism because it favors clerical rank over truth. Trump got his power with a huge assist of the same clergy. This is no coincidence. 

The only way to enjoy the benefits of a free press is to own one. Parler only rented theirs, and they are a bad tenant.  Hawley is simply a traitor. He needs to keep quiet, although I can see how he can use being loud and obnoxious as a way to blame his fall on his voice, rather than his treachery and stupidity. Yale needs to give him his money back for his law school tuition.

Evil seeps in when everyone else do not pay attention. Expect some self-preservation in the latest round of party elections. The loudest pro-lifers are also the second loudest Trumpists (racists are the loudes.t). If GOP partisans do not clean house, there will not be a house to clean. As the sane Republicans flee, they will turn the Democratic house into a duplex.

The lesson of removing the filibuster is Mitch McConnell jamming Trump judges down the nation's throat. In a cooler climate, most would have been bipartisan. 51 is too low, with 60 too high. 55 is good number. The best way to get aid to the poor done is to sell higher and refundable child tax credits as anti-abortion legislation and make pro-life leadership both push this point and demand higher amounts. Ending this fetish for legal rights in the first trimester will save the pro-life movement from itself and the Republicans from the pro-life movement.

Enough Republicans voted to accept electors that Biden would have won anyway. The issue with the rest is likely receipt of Trump Super-PAC money. Once the investigation follows the money, the Democratic majority can only grow. Pence, however, became Trump's sin eater. He knows he is done politically. How much he was actively involved in doing so will be one of the benefits of history. The role of Bush, Sr. in Iran Contra is currently not known. It one day will be. The current round of investigations on the Trump Administration generally will unearth Pence's role sooner than later.

I am fine with a Trump Library, as long as it comes from surrendering one of his properties and doubles as a prison. His documents will be preserved somewhere so that historians can go through them, especially with regard to Pence.

There should be no national hymn. Lift Every Voice is already the hymn of the Beloved Community. Until our community is the overwhelming majority (which it could be if the pro-life movement changed its focus), we can talk teaching it to everyone.

Massimo Faggioli's book on Biden and Catholicism explains our critical moment

Massimo Faggioli's book on Biden and Catholicism explains our critical moment 

Biden and Francis are about the same age. Both are imbued with the Spirit of Vatican II. Both are smooth operators. Both are plain spoken. Francis has dropped the Magisterium from his writings. 

Joe has so far taken a respectful tone on abortion. He needs to be a truth teller on the issue, starting with his economic plans. He must highlight both that they are as pro-life as pro-life gets. He must go further and cajole Catholic Charities and the USCCB to force the National Right to Life Committee to score them as must-pass legislation. 

He must also gently instruct the bishops and the public that there is no other way to deal with abortion, that Roe will never be repealed and why that is the case. If he does that, Trumpism can be dealt with. If not, he must quickly get everything done, because McCarthy wants to be Speaker in 2022.

Bishops throw cold water on the most Catholic inauguration in history

Bishops throw cold water on the most Catholic inauguration in history 

Not bishops, but just one archbishop who will never get a red hat. Cardinal Advisor O'Malley, call your office. If Michael Sean had not mentioned his Grace's statement, I would never have known about it. The U.S.C.C.B. is growing more irrelevant by the day. Their Biden envy is unbecoming.

Gomez included birth control, gay marriage and gender among his list of horribles because they represent the areas where his views are becoming progressively irrelevant. He was part of the California bishops conference in the years when Proposition 8 was attacked and overturned, where their argument utilizing Catholic views on gender doctrine were laughed out of court, from the San Francisco District to the U.S. Supreme Court. The bishop's position on contraception was hardly a slam dunk. It did more to embarrass the bishops than witness to Christ. They seek religious power, not religious freedom. This should be said more - especially in court.

The better angels of our nature, of course, are Lincoln's term, not Catholic, just to be clear

Links: Preventing future Trumpism; smart, moral advice for Biden

Links: Preventing future Trumpism; smart, moral advice for Biden 

Ask any Trumpist why they love him so much (even if they did not like his racism). The answer is that Trump is pro-life (a gimme for Republicans, even if false) and appointed pro-life justices, leading to the repeal of Roe. They will oppose any Democrat, even a Catholic, because they assume, quite correctly, that they would never end legal abortion by returning Roe or protect the rights of the unborn. Was Trump really a member of the pro-life movement, or its useful idiot. I expect the latter, which is why Trumpism will survive.

The cornerstones to Catholic social teaching are guaranteed family incomes (sensitive to family size) and expanding unions. Increasing family income is bipartisan (although Trumpists will insist it is Communist). The only question is adequacy. Biden proposes improving the earned income, child care and child tax credits. 

There is no reason not to support a Trumpist president who would do as much with child tax credits as Biden. Roe is not in any danger, nor are abortion rights. The fetus has the same constitutional right not to be executed by the state. That is the only right to life provided for in the Constitution. There is no way, in the United States, that you can create rights for the fetus at the expense of its mother. 

Explaining why this is the case is the only way to save the union movement and the Democrats from themselves. It will also silence any bishops who wish to deny Communion to Democratic politicians. Not doing so will leave current status quo in place. If you doubt it, read the comments on the NCR Facebook page whenever Biden or abortion are mentioned. Attacking EWTN and its subsidiaries also draw out the trolls. 

Biden will bring back protections for unions, while McConnell will obstruct this as much as possible. So will pro-life Republicans. As long as the AFL-CIO is in the Democrat's corner and explicitly supports abortion rights, they do more to short circuit the union movement than McConnell ever could. Again, the answer is to explain why the only way to reduce abortion so much that clinics will close is enacting economic protections for families. 

Infrastructure improvements require expanding gasoline excise taxes. The programs to distribute the money and the companies to do the work already exist. While the industrial planning boards for the New Deal and World War II no longer exist, the rest of the New Deal is alive and well. 

Rewarding honest work requires bringing back the union movement (and unionizing white collar workers), see above. Until white collar workers see something for themselves in joining unions, they will continue to whither.

Speaking of rights, I would be more impressed if Dr. Rowlands were added to the CDF. Ending clerical sacred continence and celibacy and ordaining Dr. Rowlands would be even better, even if this is done so as a deacon rather than a priest. Making her a Cardinal would, of course, be better. Putting her in charge, even better.

The promise of obedience also needs adjusting. Bishops should be obedient to their deacons and priests by election, rather than the other way around. Ordination can be accomplished without either continence, obedience or masculinity. The grace of Sacrament requires no other condition. Indeed, while grace is definitely imparted, the outward act of blessing bespeaks a holiness that is already there in all of us.

Feuds are never about just one thing.

I have had the serious version of COVID-19, so I do not require a vaccine. If I did, however, I would prefer smooth jazz or New Age music.

Biden should focus on his role of head of state to unite the country

Biden should focus on his role of head of state to unite the country 

The primary role of the President is to enforce the laws. Simply letting the permanent government will be a nice change after four years of Prisoner 45. The body of law reflects the agreements Congress has fashioned over more than two centuries. Letting them play out is a unifying act.  Traditionally, Democrats appoint competent officials to do that. Trump did not. Biden is appointing people with proven experience. Few Republicans with such experience wanted to work for Trump, nor did he want them. It is the change we we voted for.

Biden's problem as a Catholic president is to win over Catholics for whom abortion is the only issue. His job here, one he owes fellow Democrats and fellow Catholics, is to explain why abortion cannot be banned and sell his economic policies as the only way to reduce the need of poor women (and girls) to procure them and doctors to provide them. This will involve a bit of public shaming of certain bishops. Biden the scrapper needs to bring himself to the task if he wants to unite the nation.

Links: Inaugural addresses, Biden's Catholicism and a warty pig

Links: Inaugural addresses, Biden's Catholicism and a warty pig 

Anything Joe does is soaring rhetoric compared with the last one, which was aptly described by W as some crazy you know what.

Roosevelt laid the groundwork for what Biden must do. No new agencies need to be created, just funded adequately. He probably has the votes to do it. Hopefully he will take the bipartisan route so that Republican fingerprints are on it too. It will be sustainable, as will his majorities in Congress.

I hope that Biden has something to say to the Bishops on their Republican stance on abortion. The FBI also has questions. That would be news.

The problem for the DNC is that Biden owes them nothing. The grass roots went for him on Super Tuesday without any help and the Lincoln project did more for him in November than they did.

Apparently, because cave paintings were often the menu, our ancestors did not keep kosher.

I guess the changes in the Broadcasting Board of Governors had no impact on RFE afterall. I love the idea of radio having pictures. Now that is news!

Biden and Kennedy: History does not repeat itself

Biden and Kennedy: History does not repeat itself 

When JFK was inaugurated, the changes that would animate the 1960s had already begun. The book 1959, The Year Everything Changed provides the details of the rise of the Beat Generation, with Jack Kerouac and the tunes of Miles Davis. In 1960, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee was formed. Lenny Bruce was needling the Church (whose cultural extremism was starting to wain).  These figures would lead the Boomers, but were not Boomers themselves. We owe them a debt for waking the nation up from conformity. 

The anti-Catholicism from the right was waning, but was replaced by a new version from the left. In 1961, the birth control pill had been introduced, but was Griswold v. Connecticut had not yet been handed down, nor Humanae Vitae penned by Ottaviani for St. Paul VI. Only Catholics cared about abortion - it was not until the late 1970s when the opponents of desegregation co-opted the issue, which is the beating heart of Trumpism and MAGA. 

The Church has co-opted the term religious liberty, and the GOP has co-opted the Church. When the bishops talk religious liberty they really mean religious power over both the faithful and in society. No thank you. 

Obama struck a nerve on birth control. Biden needs to do the surgery. Until and unless Joe Biden takes on this issue head on, Trumpism will simply find a new figurehead. Biden brought Obama back to support for marriage equality (although by that time, it was inevitable). The Church needs sounder legal advice on both issues and Biden, as a Catholic, is just the person to give it, privately first and then publicly. 

Reports are that some in Catholic pro-life circles were involved in the Insurrection. Their investigation and prosecution will help with that. The involvement of Russia in promoting Trumpism will also be revealed. Biden, like Kennedy, may just note this in his inaugural. That is where he and JFK will be similar. 

Francis is no St. Paul VI or Ottoviani. The royal we is simply not in his vocabulary and we are better for it. With Biden and Francis, the Church may have the kind of renewal that St. John XXIII sought.

The JFK v. Nixon counterfactual is interesting. Would Nixon have become the Watergate president without his loss? In not responding to Dr. King, he certainly laid the groundwork for MAGA, but his economic liberalism may have continued Ike's economic policies. It was JFK who started cutting the taxes on the wealthy, with LBJ putting them into law in 1965. Without this, unions would not have been broken. Likewise, without Goldwater, we may not have had Reagan. 

Biden will raise the call for the wealthy to pay more in taxes. He has the votes to carry this out, which could be used to force more basic compromise. Tax policy has been quietly moving this way. Look for Biden to get us over the line.

Impeaching Trump (again) was easy compared to defeating Trumpism

Impeaching Trump (again) was easy compared to defeating Trumpism

Mitch is hoping for Censure. As long as it is part of a plea deal that includes mental health care, removes Trump's travel benefits, bars him from running for office, includes testifying against his handler (Rudy Giuliani) as a Russian agent and all of the Insurrection co-conspirators and puts his kids on probation with loss of all business licenses and right to run for office, I will be fine with it. As long as Trump goes away and stays away. Exit Donald Trump.

Ten House members are sane. 130 are probably part of the Insurrection. They may not be in Congress for long, or at least no their leaders. Enough of the others who certified the election will eventually side with the majority when the expulsion vote occurs. A few less than ten Senators will also be caught up in the investigation. The common denominator is likely being funded by the Trump Super PAC.

Any supporters in the U.S.C.C.B. membership and staff who were involved in the conspiracy will have to face the music from prosecutors and the Pope.  They were the ones who jumped so hard on Brother Ted. Poetic justice is the sweetest kind. Their involvement in that other insurrection against the Pope and the GOP side of the pro-life movement will be noted. 

Trump's supporters will only hang in there until they realize Trump is really broke, is really a two-bit grifter and not pro-life. They will forget they ever supported him. Believers in the Prosperity Gospel soon forget about Donald the Poor. Fox News is watched by a declining demographic. If it does not get off the Trump bandwagon, it will go away too.

Links: Bloodlust of the 'most pro-life president'; Congress' guilty members

Links: Bloodlust of the 'most pro-life president'; Congress' guilty members 

Stephen Miller is more likely behind the bloodlust. I can't wait until federal law enforcement finishes with him on immigration. According to my sources, they have been watching for a long time. The March for Life, if it was scheduled for January 22nd, will have to be rescheduled. 

Given the links between movement leadership and the Trump campaign, with possible links to the Insurrection, I expect some of the leadership will be fine avoiding D.C. right now. Orange jumpsuits are more likely than sackcloth. 

The solution to 2022 is the Sanders agenda to get young people to vote. Also, do bipartisan tax reform so that tax rate changes cannot be used as a political and fundraising issue. That means adding such libertarian measures as ending filing for most households. For infrastructure, bring back pork barrel as an excuse for higher gas taxes.

Members of Congress will not be off the hook. Investigations are ongoing and pardons would merely show who in Congress needs to be removed under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. 

I am not so sure I mind the idea of Melania trying to make due on $200,000 a year while her husband either must share the money or spend time in jail or a mental institution. 

I certainly do not want any Trump to lose his Secret Service detail. I want them on hand to arrest the Trump crime family whenever we get around to it. Arresting him and confining him to Walter Reed sooner would send the message that no one is above the law and would require invoking the 25th Amendment.

God turns lemon into lemonade, even the most sour wars and pandemics. It will be business interests that will seek higher minimum wages. They do not like being undercut by cheaper employers. They also want people back to work - and as importantly - spending money, 

Reckoning with our national flirtation with fascism

Reckoning with our national flirtation with fascism 

Trump and Hitler do parallel, but not because they wanted to tear down their empires. They were sociopaths. They simply didn't care. They each put their own welfare above the state. Rather than face personal consequences, they endeavored to hold them off as long as possible.

They were both pathologically insane. Trump was always off and his father took his bipolar son and turned him into a monster. Hitler had advanced syphilus that had spread to his brain. I will make no analogy to Trump here.

Trump sold out to Putin for his precious Moscow Project. Anyone looking at this realistically could have told him there was no chance it would be built, but it was the perfect carrot for Trump. The Moscow tape was the perfect stick. Expect to see it.

Trump never should have run. He believed that his flock would not care. He did not imagine that he could not, with a stroke of the pen, stop any investigation of his past. No one in his orbit had the courage to stop him. They still do not. For this, blame Pence.

Trump's defenders likely had reason to fear any investigation of an ousted president. Look at their campaign finance filings. I bet they are loaded with Trump Super PAC money. They are inept as Trump in thinking the presidency conveyed immunity. 

Chief Roberts answered that question. No one is above the law. I expect that we will soon find that the Court green-lighted giving Trump's records to Cy Vance and SDNY. In a Grand Jury investigation, they are not obligated to disclose their decision until Trump is indicted. Among the second rate lawyers are Hawley and pro-life icon, Jay Sekulow. Both will join Trump in prison.

Trump as il Duce is obvious. Just turn down the sound when he speaks. 

Fascism is possible when the working class is desperate. Since the JFK/LBJ tax cuts, the CEO class has been raiding worker compensation. Reagan accelerated the process and tax reform ratified its pasic framework in 1986. 

The only way out of our econimics is massive reform, starting with taxes. It is why Huckabee attracted a crowd by embracing the Fair Tax. The flaw in that proposal is that it lets the rich off the hook and makes redistribution a government activity, rather than giving incentives to employers to compensate families fairly, while giving investors incentive to sell to employees. Until this happens, the current economic and political dynamics, mixed with endemic racism, will maintain. The masses expect an authoritarian workplace. They largely work well within it. Those who do not blame the Other. Ownership will end this dynamic.

What will happen to Trump? In this, he is more like Nixon than Hitler. When the GOP is certain to remove him, he will quit. He may even strike a deal on some of his financial crimes. His debtors get first crack at the meat. SDNY will only get the bones. Not hearing Trump's name ever again (except when playing Bridge) would be a blessing. However, since his indifference to what his mob did in killing a policeman, he is guilty of manslaughter. There is no walking away from that, nor from doing Putin's bidding. Capital punishment will be off the table.He is not capable of aiding in his own defense. It does not matter. After losing power, he will die a broken man,  like Hitler,and Il Duce, 

Links: Moral relativism after Capitol coup, liturgical law and a rogue priest

Links: Moral relativism after Capitol coup, liturgical law and a rogue priest 

The mob violence in Washington was not different from last summer. In both cases, it was the Proud Boys, et al, lighting the fires. The problem is not moral relativism, it is false equivalency. Without false equivalency, EWTN and the Pro-Life Activities Committee at the USCCB could not exist. Nor Fr. Z.

It is amazing how low a mob can do when they expect a pardon. Trump has the last laugh, if he cannot get a pardon, they won't either. Earth to rioters, you really became terrorists that day. It was up to you to stop yourselves - not for us to stop you.

Francis is, like with Amoris, simply giving sanction to what has been going on in well run parishes (and confessionals) for decades. I once heard a pastor in a homily say he would not let girls serve on the Altar because it would instill the desire for priesthood. He is correct. That is kind of the point.

My mother became a Catholic for the incense and stayed to pray, even after the Latin went away.

A judge stopped the execution of the woman in question. It is up to Biden to stop the procedures keeping those on death row from getting their due process. It is even more urgent to do so than making sure Trump will never serve anything but time.

How to redirect populist anger? Enact alternative minimum corporate tax

How to redirect populist anger? Enact alternative minimum corporate tax 

Musk gets a percentage of the cut (as do any employees with stock) for restarting the American ability to launch rockets. They did it nimbly and are able to control the agenda, rather than waiting for the government to do it. This is all according to a plan by NASA, which I contributed to, in the mid-1980s to increase private sector leadership in space exploration. The first product was United Space Technologies, which launched shuttles. This is phase 2. Wait until you see phase 3. For details go to http://spaceconsortium.blogspot.com/ 

Populism is more often the tool of the rich to keep the poor at each others throats (racism has always been a part of it) and to misdirect it into blind alleys rather than into real ownership of the means of production. This has been possible because the Left has never figured out how to attract workers. The answer is better cash and prizes for workers. We are working on it.

Higher tax rates on capital, including corporate profits taxes, pass through taxes, dividend taxes and inheritance taxes are usually borne only by the rich as an add on to any taxes they pay in salary as executives. The assets, physical and capital, are paid for with post-salary money. The theory is that if you earned $500,000 as a CEO, taxed at 37% and paid a 21% tax on dividends, that the actual tax rate is 56%. In practice, it does not work out that way.

That they are collected on the same form is what causes confusion. It also causes income shifting to capital. Taxes on capital are lower because they also compensate retirees, some of whom are not rich. 

The AMT itself was designed to hit the very rich, not the middle class. Inflation and bad tax policy has resulted in a middle class income starting at $84,000. Anyone else is in the working class - and it is not until you get into the top 0.1% that households receive enough in dividends that they actually stop working.

Stressing taxes on corporations leaves out a large bit of capitalist exploitation. There are partnerships and sole proprietors who also take more of their share of value added or generated. Employees are underpaid for their efforts, regardless of how the business is owned. 

"Taxing corporations" has become a way to go after capitalism without saying so, and doing it badly, because there is a stigma in denouncing capitalism itself. It is weak tea. It is time to shift to espresso.

A value-added tax taxes labor and capital at the same rate. They are the tax that the wealthy cannot dodge. The reality is that, whenever you buy something, you pay for the payroll (both income and retirement) that the workers and their employers pay on their labor.

VAT tax on employers can also be used to distribute income benefits for families in the paycheck, rather than on individual tax filings (which subsidizes tax preparers) or direct subsidies.

A separate VAT on capital returns and gains makes tax avoidance (common when using individual income tax forms to collect it) impossible. At the core, the conservative movement is about the ability to cheat on your taxes. It is dine and dash economics. Getting that unfair advantage is what the lobbyists are paid for, especially by the "idle rich;" those precious children who rich parents want to protect from taxation. 

Taxing the sale of assets, with marking the tax owed to the market value of the asset ends the myth that we are taxing death, rather than heirs. It does not diminish assets kept in families (such as farms and businesses), while correctly taxing those who sell the business. Marking stock option exercise to market value (rather than taxing only the gains) also diminishes undue wealth accumulation.

I have a plan that ends income taxation for all but the highest salaried individuals. Combined with the economic effect of the other taxes, it essentially taxes millionaire salaries at 91%. This is high enough to cap these salaries and capital payments and force distribution of value added to employees, which has always been the goal of income taxation. For details, go to http://fiscalequity.blogspot.com/2020/10/attachment-tax-reform.html  and the blog a whole. (Private to MSW, you should read and review the associated books, which are available on Amazon).

Social democrats have abandoned ending capitalism. I have not and neither have my colleagues, Richard Wolff and Gar Alperovitz. Bernie is a social democrat, not a real socialist. His supporters in DSA are wannabes. For details, go to Amazon.

The rate of capital taxation has been bouncing between 31% and 20% since the 1986 tax reform. Including surtaxes like Pease (which functions as an additional AMT) and Obamacare, the effect rate is about 24%. 

The Ryan tax reform were an attempt to hit the middle, indicating that Democratic legislators were in on the deal, but reserved the right to make noise about it. Such deals are often made behind the scenes - something outsiders never realize. Biden wants to hit 28%. If he settles for 26%, the debate ends and all of those lobbyists have nothing to fight about. 

The real victory (and it was bipartisan) was to move to a single rate for taxing capital. A single rate for all capital returns (corporate income, dividends, interest, rent, capital gains and pass-through income) ends income shifting. It is the essential reform to get to comprehensive tax reform featuring consumption taxes. Chairman Orin Hatch was publicly against value added taxes, so the reform was either snuck by him or done with a nod and a wink.

The best reform is bipartisan. Let us hope Biden goes that way, rather than stoking populist class warfare. Ultimately, this will benefit the precious children of the rich. The debt, which is the cornerstone of their wealth (it forms a solid floor for most investment accounts), cannot keep absorbing net interest costs, rather than paying them. Once they realize this, they will be on board with tax reform. See http://fiscalequity.blogspot.com/2020/09/attachment-who-owns-and-owes-debt.html

Compromise will stop funding of right-wing populism (the Tea Party, MAGA). It is amazing how populist leaders respond to money. Compromise helps workers, giving them a reason to step away from the populists. The next edition of my book on the debt will have more on this. I am waiting on the latest tax and debt data, which is late due to the virus.

Tax reform will also be the best way to sharply reduce the need for abortion services and the populist pro-life movement that is the glue that holds the Republican Party together. When racism became unacceptable in discourse, abortion became the populist issue. Trump was the return of racial populism (which was always below the surface - see the Hyde Amendment). Trump simply united the sentiments. The planned violent protests on January 20th are supported by more than we would like to think because they are seen as pro-life. Shame on the movement for going along. This is why Mayor Bowser is keeping the state of emergency active through the March for Life.

No one has a right to be surprised about the Capitol violence

No one has a right to be surprised about the Capitol violence 

I have been a frequent tweeter about Trump losing. Many of them responded with both knowledge of an insurrection and the idiotic arguments reflected in their court filings - plus a total lack of knowledge about how votes are counted and what constitutes a majority of electors. They can neither count nor read. 

Members of the Fox News and EWTN staff will likely be interviewed for advanced knowledge. There is plenty to dredge up. As for people who came to Washington to support the President, they photographed themselves storming the castle. Oops.

The infiltrators will be arrested. I suspect that they will brag about their connections to Congress. There will be more than one arrest. Members cannot hide. No conspiracy, be it QAnon or repeating their lies, can remain uncovered for long. 

Any bishops who knew should also face justice. When all comes out, I will be shocked if some were not in on Trump's mentioning partial birth abortion in the third 2016 debate, how Trump knew to ask (likely Russian hacking) and their role in mobilizing Midwestern Catholic voters. History will not treat them well. Neither will the FBI.

It would not surprise me if the Cabinet comes to Observatory Circle for lunch or dinner sometime soon. Trump ran for re-election thinking he could not be arrested and Pence will not remove him. Had he kept his mouth shut, he might have been able to serve out his term. I doubt that this is now the case. Pence is still his sin eater for not removing him sooner. 

Links: Georgia Senate results, the Electoral College and working-class voters

Links: Georgia Senate results, the Electoral College and working-class voters 

No more Mitch as Majority Leader. God bless Georgia. Silk is right in using humor. The GOP has turned American politics into a farce. As an ethnically Jewish Catholic born in Texas, I am grateful for our alliance with the Black community. 

The antidote for demagogues is to end direct election in fact as well as custom. We should elect regional vice presidents, who, along with a caucus from a regional House and Senate caucus from each region (7 regions, 21 votes) select the President.

Kalvanovitz's scholars left out that students, especially remedial students, should be paid the higher minimum wage to go to school, including immigrants in ESL classes. Conservatives hate the idea of working people getting ahead. It is time to utterly rebuke them.

The Hanoverians have no power to do anything to beautify the city. They are the tourist attraction.

Looking ahead to 2021 in the life of the church in the US

Looking ahead to 2021 in the life of the church in the US 

I was wondering who owned the Catholic News Association. They are the same fools who own the National Catholic Register. Both names are attempts at misdirection that are only meant to confuse. What happens at EWTN is really not worth comment. Mother Angelica is weeping. After today's sad events, the Bishops conference should be informed by Rome that they need to stop associating themselves with the Trump seditionists.

As I have said, it is not the place of the bishops to educate Biden. It is up to Biden to educate the bishops, especially with regard to constitutional law. The bishops have been ill-served by their sycophant lawyers - both in terms of what constitutes sedition and why legal abortion can never be curtailed. 

What is important for the life of the Church is the general tone of the papacy under Francis. The dark years of virtual infallibility are over. The assumption there was such a thing was a belief in magic. And not the good kind. Prayers that ask God to correct the errors in thought you perceive in others violates what prayer is about - which is personal discernment. 

Amoris should be addressed prayerfully. That discussion will undoubtedly educate the recalcitrant that, even before the synod, the clergy were largely following similar procedures when dealing with the question of returning to Communion. 

Francis may yet save the credibility of the Church. If you were to ask most baptized Catholics about the credibility of the bishops on birth control, sexual morality generally, weekly Mass attendance or politics - they would simply laugh at you. The bishops should seek polling on this matter. If the poll is validly designed, they will not like the answers. That is why it needs to be done. 

The baptized should also be asked about whether the hierarchs should control the budget and property of the Church, or be selected from Rome. They would not dare ask, as they would hate that answer all the more. What they fear the most is an honest opinion on the ordination of women. Many clergy may answer the same way, if they were sure the survey was anonymous.

The Nuncio's voice and role are not nearly as important as that of Sean Cardinal Advisor O'Malley. The reason some bishops are letting their freak flag fly is that they know what he will say about them and who shall succeed them. As with the Trumpist movement, the day of the cultural warrior bishop will soon end.

Links: Seditious lunacy, progressive economic policies and virtual travel

Links: Seditious lunacy, progressive economic policies and virtual travel 

Members going along with this idiocy probably took Russian tainted Trump Super PAC funds. Always follow the money,

Debt forgiveness is transactional for Warren. Her supporters want it, it is incumbent on her to honor her debts. Also, it is something that can be done unilaterally. It takes no appropriation to forgive a debt held by the government. It would take one to refund capitalized interest paid back already. The approach I would take to debt forgiveness is to simply forgive all capitalized interest still outstanding and apply all payments to date to the original loan. 

Getting these loans obligations off of the backs of the middle class and the poor who never finished school is an exteme injection into income - in some cases hundreds of dollars a month. It also frees up many families to finally save a down payment and qualify to make the monthly payment for a mortgage.

National minimum wages will be instituted if enough states start poaching labor from other states - which is a distinct possibility. Remember that the value of a minimum wage is that because everyone pays, no individual employer can take advantage of lower wages to charge lower prices than competitors. For some reason, paying people poorly is a conservative value. Their view is that lower pay spurs advancement in one's career. Idiocy.

The Federal Reserve, with the assistance of cabinet officers Mnuchin and Ross, has rewarded landlords like them (and other creditors) with sweetheart credit which has not been passed on to borrowers. Debt forgiveness could be done at the stroke of a pen by the Fed (like student loan debt).

Nothing is preventing anyone else from duplicating Amazon's success. Indeed, an employee-owned delivery firm could put them out of business - or drive them into the same kind of ownership. The Marxist dream was to vote in socialism. Social democracy is all that has been garnered so far. Until employee-owned firms learn to offer better toys, they are no danger to capitalism. 

Bravo to the AFM for trying to shame the Met. It won't do much good, however, as the Met is funded by people who have done well in the market this year. I am sure Bezos also wrote a check.

Hundreds of thousands will die, if not millions, before Rome will open again. Until then, might I suggest the Smithsonian Channel, which is part of the CBS Online package. I have been binge watching. Lots of travel adventures - including to volcanoes.

The year in politics: What to expect from 2021?

The year in politics: What to expect from 2021? 

Trump is grasping at any straw to keep out of jail. He could have likely made a deal before the election to do so, but that would have required sanity to make. Now, he has nothing to trade. Frankly, I would rather see him poor than locked up. His minions will call him a martyr in jail, but not in the poor house. In the short-term, banning him from Twitter is enough. When Trump is poor, his movement goes away, like magic.

Step one in the COVID recovery is for people to stop dying. Spread is pretty much universal at this point and, with more virulent strains, unavoidable. Even twenty-somethings are getting the fatigue symptoms that previous strains have spared them. Those who vape THC will likely die, but any respiratory bug, no matter how benign, is a death sentence for them once they get popcorn lung. Normal vapers will have a hard time of it, but likely will not be dropping dead in numbers.

Most small businesses are 1099 employment or a second gig (Avon, calling?). Those jobs, along with temping, will come back rather quickly. 

Restaurants fail chronically in the best years. Their model, paying workers poorly, is a big part of the problem. The real issue with opening new ones is location - and there is plenty of that after the pandemic. It needs no help to come back. It needs moral payroll structures to come back better.

The needed reform is to increase the incentives for real hiring, not subcontract employment. A higher minimum wage is also a must. When lower wage workers have more money, they spend it all so more lower wage work is required. With salaries going up all along the food chain, everyone wins except those who write the checks to the Senators. Aside from a state-led movement, bipartisan compromise over a plate of food will be required. See below.

Infrastructure is always needed. Getting back to good old pork barrel spending allows the necessary gasoline or carbon tax increases to pass as long as everyone has a project to point to. This disdain for pre-approved projects coordinated between the Hill, local government and agencies is amateurish. 

The other must-do is money for families. This quickly becomes money for housing. When you have another kid, you need another bedroom (and eventually two). Biden has the right idea for doing that, he just needs to make it permanent.

Permanent help for families and workers is best done under tax reform. I have some ideas about that as well. More radical reform may even be easier if it means that is must be bipartisan. Any idiot can get 51 votes in the Senate and pass a tax increase. Getting the higher hanging fruit means having Elaine and Jill watch Mitch and Joe grill somewhere in Delaware as our nation's wounds are bound over a few trays of beef kabbobs.